


If This Should End In Fire

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - How to Train Your Dragon Fusion, Dragon Riders, Dragons, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Fantasy, Hostage Situations, Injury, Injury Recovery, Kidnapping, M/M, Major Character Injury, Minor Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Recovery, Scars, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-11-05 08:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17915162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: For generations, Joey's village has been one of dragon slayers, but Joey himself has yet to take part in the "tradition", on the night that's supposed to present his first kill, things go horribly, horribly wrongJoey is stopped by a stranger in silver armor, one who apparently commands dragons- and one who is not pleased with the village's practiceJoey ends up badly injured and in the fray between his village and the dragon riders, one of the stranger's dragons is captured, and Joey is taken as a hostage to be traded for the dragon's lifeIn the short time he's held captive, he begins to question his beleifs- on everything, and secrets begin to unravel that put him right in the center of an ancient battle, not between humans and dragons, but between peace and all out warOn-going; Updates every Sunday!





	1. On The Edge Of Right And Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy it's been a hell of a long time since I've written multi-chaptered fics that post on a schedule, but I'm going to start it as a new tradition, starting with this HTTYD fusion peice!
> 
> More tags will be added as they apply, please enjoy the ride!

"All hail, the great dragon slayer, Rex Raptor!!"

He huffed quietly, nose wrinkling, refusing to turn his attention to the crowd

The last thing he wanted to hear was about another of Rex's many triumphs

He didn't want to see another dragon skin tossed his way, another corpse to be celebrated around

He knew that dragons were evil, that their destruction was the only way humans could survive, but he didn't _relish_ in their deaths the way the rest of the village did

They were still living things, and although Joey wasn't so self-righteous that he would say he'd never harm another living thing, or even that he'd never kill a living thing..... he couldn't _celebrate_ it

There was a difference between killing for necessity and killing for glory and sometimes Joey seriously wondered if the rest of his village knew that as well, or if, to them, necessity and glory were one in the same...

"Are you paying attention Son?"

He didn't even bother to look up, he knew his father's face would be disappointed, he knew his father's expression would be frustrated, if not flat out angry

He didn't want to see it

Jaw tensed and lips pursed, eyes narrowed and nose wrinkled, he defiantly kept himself from looking up

"You're far past the age of a warrior, and yet still, you've yet to skin a dragon," his father reminded him, a sneer in his voice

"But no longer, Son, you will slay a dragon tommorrow and bring us the pelt, or you will be exiled from this village,"

Footsteps sounded, Joey knew that his father had left, and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly, showing emotion for the first time since noticing his presence to begin with

Finally, it seemed, that his efforts to hold out on killing any living creature had run their course

There was nothing left now

He would march home tommorrow with blood on his hands, a life taken, and a dragon pelt on his back

 

~+~

 

"Look at that one Boy, it's old and weak, that thing couldn't fight off a _goat_ ,"

"Real encouragin' Pops," Joey grumbled back, eyes rolling as he quietly drew his sword

His father was right though, atleast

The dragon they were currently scouting had to be atleast a few hundred years old- or atleast, the elders would have you believe

Joey himself wasn't sure how much he believed that crap about dragons apparently living to be in the thousands, he kind of thought that the elders made it up as yet another intimidation tactic to keep he younger generations interested in the village "tradition" of dragon slaying

But whatever, he didn't really care about that at this point

Anyway, regardless, just taking a single look at the dragon before them made Joey feel equal parts more confident... and less certain

There was no doubt that a creature this old- one that could barely seem to stay awake, much less alert- wouldn't put up a fight, but.... didn't that just make all of this even worse?

To creep up on an old, defenseless animal, and kill it knowing that it couldn't fight back.... didn't that just make Joey a coward?

"Won't this just make me a coward? I mean, it ain't like I'm actually takin' out anythin' that could put up a fight..."

"Yes," his father confirmed with ease

"But your cowardice is why you've waited so long to do this to begin with, you can't make your first kill out of something that would give you any decent pride, it'd murder you! But because you're so afraid of everything you have to attack the weak and helpless, make it easy on yourself until you grow some balls, consider it a mercy killing if you have to, I mean look at that thing, it's not gonna make it long anyway, if you don't do it, someone else sure will,"

Breathing quietly, inhaling and exhaling steadily, the blonde forced himself to ignore the majority of that conversation and close his eyes, teeth gritting and nose wrinkling

His father was atleast right about it being a mercy killing... probably

The poor creature _did_ look like it was on borrowed time as it was, and atleast Joey would make it quick, not like someone else, like Rex, who would draw it out and torture the poor thing....

Wait, wait, why was he calling it a "poor creature"!? It was a murderer! It was a demon coming straight out of hell!!

He had to remember that, he just had to keep remembering that, swallowing tightly and tightening his grip on his blade as he slowly exited the high grass where he and his father had just been crouched, stalking the nearly immobile reptile

His heart was racing, and his eyes were stinging, every single part of him felt wrong, but he had been promised that such feelings would go away over time

His fingers twitched, his breathing unsteady as he stepped closer and closer, trying his hardest to be stealthy as he raised the sword up high

Some part of him secretly hoped that the dragon would hear him coming and fly away, but he had to banish those thoughts, he couldn't allow so much.... _cowardice_....

He bulked back his shoulders, and lowered the sword-...

The dragon's eyes opened, and it began to fill up it's lungs with fire, but it wouldn't be able to defend it's self in time

Joey's sword was already swinging down in the same moment that the dragon was starting to inhale

_'I'm sorry....'_

Then, suddenly, in a motion that was either a miracle or a truly unnatural tragedy, his blow was blocked

The sound of steel clinging against steel echoed around the open meadow around them, and just as Joey managed to look up and away from his own blade, meeting a pair of icy blue eyes, staring out at it him from beneath a silver helmet, the dragon let loose the fire it had been inhaling

And in that one exhale, his life changed forever

A scream of agony rang out through the meadow as the blonde fell backwards, his heart racing and his entire body shaking like a leaf, tears starting to spill out of his eyes as he screamed and screamed, staring down in horror at his leg- or what was left of it

It was charred badly, the dragon had only managed to touch his left leg with the fire....

But that was more than enough

He was on his back, panting badly as he stared up at the events going on around him

And for a long moment, everything seemed to go in slow motion

He felt like he could see more, observe more, than he typically could in such a short and heavily filled stream of events

The man who had blocked his sword was covered in silver armor, including the helmet that obscured every part of his face except for those eyes.....

Those _peircing_ blue eyes

The old dragon was limping away, trying to keep it's self away from the oncoming fight

But suddenly, the elderly creature that had just turned Joey's leg into barbecue wasn't the only dragon in the area

Suddenly there were three more, each identical to eachother, with silver-white scales, jaws full of vicious teeth, and dark blue eyes, the same color as the armored man....

" _Go_ ," the stranger commanded

At first, Joey assumed that he had been talking to him, but it quickly became clear that that wasn't the case

One of the silver-white dragons reeled it's head back, a bright and, dare he say, beautifull electric storm beginning to fill it's mouth, and the realization was quickly creeping up on him that this was the end, the beast was going to fry him alive!!

And yet, because tonight seemed to be the night of luck- or ... lack thereof maybe- the dragon's blast was stopped before it even began

Joey recognized the poison dart that was shot into the beast's neck as it screeched and howled in distress and quickly flopped to the ground, unconscious, but not dead

"Duke....?" the blonde muttered to himself, blinking in confusion, he was starting to feel woozy, his head starting to get foggy....

"Kalila!!" the armored man shouted, rushing forward, but suddenly being pushed away by another armored figure, this one wearing gold rather than silver

Evidently, it was a good thing that the silver one was pushed out of the way, an arrow would have shot him straight through the eye if he hadn't been

And just like that, everything happened at once

Joey was watching as the downed dragon was netted, probably by his father, and started to be pulled away, arrows flying, swords clinging and clanging together

He could hear people calling out to him but the pain.... the pain was so intense that he was starting to go numb, his vision starting to fade, his mind was beginning to turn off....

Atleast, until he felt someone jerk him up to his feet, a blade pressed suddenly to his throat, and just like that, it all stopped

Everyone went still, and Joey could hear the soft but raspy voice of the silver-armored stranger screaming in his ear

"Release my dragon at once! Or I'll gut him like a fish!!"

What...?

_His_ dragon?

What the hell was this moron talking about?

Dragons couldn't belong to people, they couldn't be tamed, the only people who were stupid enough to think that they could be were the same breed of mouth-breathing idiots that tried to tame ... freaking bears and tigers and other wild animals like that!

Ofcourse, atleast _those_ mouth-breathing morons had the excuse that they could compare them to domesticated animals like cats, the fact that dogs descended from wolves and all that, but the ones who tried to tame dragons were just plain stupid

"We'll never release this dragon!"

Joey inhaled on instinct, tensing as he felt the blade press closer to his throat, close enough that it was probably about to draw blood....

"Then I'll happily deposit his head at your feet," the stranger sneered

"'Wait!"

Ah... was that Duke's voice shouting for him...?

Or maybe Tristan's...?

"Don't, please, we can work something out!"

He couldn't tell anymore....

_"Seto,"_ he heard from behind him, the voice deep and rumbling, like a lion's purr

Was this the gold-clad guy...?

_"Even if they release her, Kalila cannot fly like this, and we cannot carry her, she must awaken first, and if they release her now but she doesn't fly away....."_

"Right," came the gruff reply of the silver stranger

"You have until sundown tommorrow to make your decision!" his captor shouted at the top of his lungs

"We will meet here precisely at sundown, no more than three of you and my dragon, and if so much as a single scale is missing from her, then I will be the one turning _this_ beast into a pelt! If any harm comes to her, I'll not only relieve his head from his body, I'll launch a war on your entire village! And believe me, I have more than enough resources,"

With that, everything suddenly went dark and warm and suffocating, there was a bag over his head apparently, and he was being dragged away by a different set of arms, rope quickly and expertly binding his arms behind his back as he was lifted into the air and then onto some sort of rough, hard surface....

"Sundown," the silver stranger warned one last time

And then there was a wooshing sound, he could feel the surface beneath him moving, rising into the air....

And without being able to hold on any longer, he finally lost consciousness

 

~+~

 

"What do we do? We have to find a way to save Joey," Duke said quickly, his teeth already gritting, feeling uncomfortably cold and shakey as he looked up to his freind's father for an answer

The older man was quiet for a moment, his face stern and emotionless, as he turned on his heel

"He got himself into this mess," he finally said

"Kill the dragon, skin it, those monsters will do whatever they want anyway, let's not let him die in vain,"

And then, just like that, the world became even colder than it had been before


	2. Scars And Bones

Waking up was a slow, heavy process

Everything felt like it was moving through honey, slow and weighed down, trapped in an odd, not-asleep, not-awake daze, where he couldn't so much as lift a finger without exerting sizeable effort

By the time he finally managed to get his eyes open, he found his vision to be blurred and his eyes to be aching, everything felt off and it took several long moments for his sight to adjust, and once it did, he found himself staring at what seemed to be a cave ceiling

It was relatively smooth, but... definitely made of some kind of rock

He reached up slowly, rubbing his hand over his eyes and trying to remember where he was and how he had gotten here...

He remembered... going out on that dragon hunting mission with his dad.... then that weird guy in the armor had started yelling at him....

And just like that, the memories crashed into him like a ton of bricks, panic shooting through him as he forced himself to sit up

His leg had been burned....

He couldn't feel his leg, _he couldn't feel his leg_!!

Shaking, he reached down and yanked the blanket off of his lower half, staring down at the bandages wrapped around his burned leg and reaching down to gently run his fingers over them

He couldn't feel it....

It wasn't amputated but... he still couldn't feel it....

What the fu-!?

"Don't worry,"

Immediately, his head jerked up, eyes locking with the man above him

He was short, with soft bronze skin, weirdly three-toned hair- black, blonde, and some sort of red or .. maybe violet...- in what he could only describe as an untamed series of spikes, and his eyes....

They were red, but one of them was faded and half-closed, and upon closer inspection, he could see a long, thick scar making it's way from his hair line all the way down to the apple of his cheek

How did he even have his eye open with a scar like that??

"We applied a numbing medicine to your leg, so that you would not be in pain, you will regain feeling within the day,"

That voice... he recognized it

_"Seto, even if they release her, Kalila cannot fly like this, and we cannot carry her, she must awaken first, and if they release her now but she doesn't fly away....."_

"Wait ... you're that dude in the gold armor from earlier..... right?"

He wasn't dressed in armor anymore though, now he was just in a plain beige tunic and black pants, he looked as ordinary as Joey now

Well, except for the hair maybe

"I am, and _you_ are the coward who attempted to kill an old, defenseless dragon," he replied smoothly, sitting down carefully in front of Joey

It was only then that the blonde realized he had a tray and a bowl with him

"Defenseless!?" he scoffed

"That old lizard fried my freakin' leg! How is that defenseless!?"

The scarred man narrowed his eyes, a clearly furious look on his face as he glared at the hunter

"Your leg wouldn't have gotten burned if you had not attempted to kill an innocent creature,"

"I hate to break this to ya' buddy, but dragons ain't innocent, d'ya' know how many villages they destroy every year? How many sheep an' cows an' everything else they fly off with? How many people they kill?"

Slamming the tray down on the ground- and successfully making Joey flinch- the stranger stood up, an angered sneer on his face

" _Alkhamaq!_ " he spat, turning on his heel suddenly and stalking off, practically fuming now

What language had that been? Joey didn't recognize it....

Not that that was unusual, he had never traveled outside of his village so his exposure to other languages was rather slim....

"So I see you pissed off Atem,"

Glancing over his shoulder, the blonde was rather surprised to see a near... _clone_ of the other man standing behind him

Though this version was shorter and pale, with wider eyes, no scar, and purple in his hair and eye color instead of red

He looked a little younger, a little softer, wich was a contrast to the black armor he wore, covering every part of him from the neck down

"It ain't like I attacked the guy, I just told 'im the truth," Joey protested, reaching for the tray

"No, you told him what dragon hunters wrongly _think_ is the truth," the smaller man corrected, taking a step closer, his arms crossed over his chest and a gentle but ... sad... look on his face

"An' what the hell does that mean?" Joey grumbled back, his nose wrinkled, staring into the bowl of stew in front of him and slowly picking up his spoon

"It means that humans have a very long history of assuming anything they don't understand is evil, it means that you're incorrect, it means... all kinds of things that I just don't have the time to explain, to make you understand, I would need days, to _show_ you, rather than _tell_ you, why you're wrong,"

The blonde scoffed again, taking a sip of his soup

It was surprisingly good

"You're going back tonight, to be traded for Kalila, we don't have time to teach you.... though I wish we did, it'd be nice to have someone new around,"

"In what? The cave ya' call home?" he grumbled back

The other man gave a quiet chuckle, his expression suddenly fond and a bit mischievous

"You have no idea.... but just rest for now, ok? Rest and eat, we have a long journey ahead of us tonight, and you'll need your strength,"

"Right, right.... sure, long journey," he muttered back, watching with fake disinterest as the stranger walked away, leaving him alone in the barren "room", if it could even be called that

The stranger had reminded him though, that he was supposed to be used as a means to an end later tonight, traded for the life of a dragon...

And knowing his father, that trade wouldn't be happening

The dragon was probably already dead

And if these lunatics met up with his father and a corpse- or worse, were stood up- later tonight, then they'd have no reason to keep him alive, they'd kill him on the spot

He had to get out of here, plain and simple

But he couldn't even _stand_ , much less _walk_ , with his leg charred and numb like this, he'd need a crutch of some kind....

But the room was so empty... all he could see was a small fire burning for warmth behind him, and a little pile of firewood too....

_Firewood_

It wouldn't make the best tool, but it would have to do

He picked up the bowl and slurped down the rest of the stew as quickly as he could, then set it aside and started reaching out for whatever peice of wood he could get his hands on

He had to get out of here

He wasn't going to let himself die, not for these people, not like this

He would either make it home somehow.... or die trying

 

~+~

 

"I should have been more carefull.... I never should have taken all three of them out there to begin with,"

"Seto.... you have _got_ to stop blaming yourself like this, it isn't healthy, Kalila will be fine, I swear it,"

"How do you know for sure? What makes you think that the nitwit we caught will be worth his weight in trade!?"

"Because, somewhere out there, that 'nitwit' has someone who cares about him just as much as you care about Kalila, and whoever that is will do anything and everything to get him back,"

"I hope you're right," Seto grumbled quietly, heaving a sigh as he stroked his hand slowly over the head of the baby dragon, listening to her thrill and coo at him as he carefully tucked the little creature back in the nest she shared with her siblings, feeding finally done for the day

"I still feel like Kalea and Kamala should have been enough on their own, Kalila is still the smallest-"

"By less than an inch,"

"And the youngest,"

"By less than a second,"

"And I sho-"

" _Seto_ ," Atem declared, a bit louder, firmer, and more seriously than before, rising from where he had been sitting on the shore moments before and stepping closer to the other man, taking his hands gently and moving to sit down by the edge of the water with him, reaching out to place one hand gently on his cheek

"I know that you miss her... I know, but you cannot keep blaming yourself like this, it's not going to bring her back, and just short of closing off the entrance to this paradise and never helping another dragon.... we are going to risk ourselves, and eachother, and the ones we love... that is the price we pay for involving ourselves in this war,"

Seto's eyes flickered away, staring out at the beautifull, clear lagoon that they were currently sitting on the shore of, heaving a long, quiet sigh and focusing his eyes on the water

Atem was right, he knew that, but that hardly made any of this any better

"I know," is what he finally said, causing a small smile to light across his partner's face

"Good," the smaller man promised, leaning in and pressing his lips gently against the side of Seto's face

"Then let's return to the Peak, yes?"

A small, stiff nod, was the only response that Atem received, but it was more than enough

"Good," he smirked, rising to his feet, but the good mood was punctured barely a second later, a wince leaving the smaller man's throat as he suddenly stumbled back and pressed a hand over his scarred right eye

"Atem?" Seto frowned, rising to his feet as well, a look of concern on his face

"Is it your eye?"

"It's fine, I'm fine," he insisted quickly

Seto didn't believe that for a second, an annoyed look crossing his features as he hurriedly reached out and yanked Atem's hand away from his eye, tugging him in closer and gently but firmly cupping his face, moving his thumb over his partner's eyelid and forcing it up, despite the continuous sounds of protest coming from Atem's throat

"You... what the hell have you been doing!? When was your last treatment!?"

"It's... it's fine Seto-"

"It is NOT fine! Your eye is clouded again, when was your last treatment?"

The other human lowered his head, looking away from his partner's deep blue gaze

"A week ago,"

"A _week_?! You're supposed to have them every _day_! So you've just been lying to me, telling me Yugi was doing them for you, and what? Lying to Yugi by telling him that I was doing them?"

"It worked, didn't it?"

"Atem! What the hell is wrong with you!?"

Not waiting for an answer, he took his partner by the shoulder and forced him to start walking backwards several steps, finally pushing him down into the small nest of blankets and other cloth that had been compiled for times like these

"I can't keep taking them, Seto... not frequently like this, atleast, I'm using too many scales, Ruka can't grow them back quickly enough before we need more,"

"Then we'll find an alternative, we'll keep using this method until we work out an alternative," Seto insisted, sitting down beside his partner and reaching under a small gathering of rocks beside the nest, clearing away some of the dirt to reveal a small hole, and reaching inside it

"Right, 'alternatives', your mad science plan again? You're so worried about my eye, but experimenting on it like that could cause more harm than good," Atem noted with a sigh, watching as Seto pulled a small, cloth-wrapped, glass bottle out of the hole, unwrapping it quickly to reveal the bright blue color of it's contents- and the considerably low amount that was left

"I wouldn't experiment on _you_ ," he noted with a quiet huff, leaning in a little closer and unscrewing the top from the bottle

"I'd find a guinea pig somewhere, maybe one of the idiots from the village that took Kalila,"

"You can't just ... experiment on people Seto!"

"Why the hell not? They experiment on dragons all the time, you think they care about the consequences for even a second? It's all we've got,"

"Seto..."

"Don't try to convince me not to, you're right, we can't rely on Ruka's scales forever, he'll run out sooner or later and plucking him clean like a chicken is too dangerous to risk anyway, we have to find an alternative, I'm not going to let you go blind Atem, I'm not going to let that poison eat your fucking eye!"

With that, and with utter refusal to let his partner argue, Seto leaned closer, blue liquid filled into the small glass dropper from the bottle top as he gently but firmly pushed Atem's eye open and started to let the drops cascade down into it

The human flinched, winced, grabbed at the blankets and twisted them in his fists, but did little more

He was far used to these treatments by now, he had been getting them for years, after all

"It would only be one eye," Atem muttered, not that that seemed to change Seto's mind at all, or placate him the least bit

He still seemed just as furious and irritated as he had been moments before

"Don't even go there with me," he grumbled, shoving the dropper back into the bottle and tucking it away securely in it's hiding place once more

"Yugi will be furious, if you do this Seto," Atem warned, watching helplessly as the other man rose to his feet and began walking away from the lagoon, and the baby dragon nest, and Atem

"He's forgiven worse, and if it's down to you or a few random murders, who do you think he's going to choose?"

Atem opened his mouth to speak again, but it was too late, Seto was gone

And he was left alone, unable to move until the medicine had finished sinking in, only able to close his eyes, and hope, and pray

_'Please....'_ he begged out silently

_'Please.... let no one else be hurt because of me....'_

 

~+~

 

He had to get out of here

He couldn't just keep waiting around for the inevitable to happen

He had already gone in circles once, limping along with his crappily made crutch, searching desperately for some manner of escape, but it was no use, it seemed

No matter where Joey went, he just kept ending up back at the start, back in that same room that he had woken up in

There were three different exits, he had realized, to the otherwise empty room

The first one, the one directly behind his head, had just lead in a circle through some weird little tunnel, and he had emerged at the opposite end of the room upon completing his journey

Ultimately it had lended him nothing but annoyance

So now he was trying the second passage, the one that was partly hidden beside the third- the one he had inadvertently ended up coming through after his first escape attempt

It looked, at first, like it was just attached to the other, larger passage, but upon closer inspection, he could see a clear divide between the two

This one was far more narrow, and unlike the first, wich had torches lining the walls, this one was completely dark

... Great....

Frustrated, he headed out after only a few feet in, grabbing another peice of firewood from the pile and dipping it into the blazing flames of the fire behind him, watching nervously as it lit and the fire crackled and ate slowly at the wood he was holding

Staring at it, all he could think about was the fire that had tried to take his leg, how terrible it had been, how frightening, how painfull....

He blinked and tried to clear his mind of the matter, focusing his attention on the other passageway once again and starting in a second time

Even with the light from the fire, this one was unusually dark, and small enough that he couldn't stand up straight within it, instead having to hunch over a little just to fit inside

This must be a tunnel exclusively for the two shorter men he had met earlier, not one that the tall, silver-clad guy from last night could possibly use

He wondered if that was on purpose, if they had somehow- and for some reason- designed it that way or if this was all natural formations that they had just adapted to over time

But ofcourse if that was true- well, no matter wich theory was true he supposed- then how was the tall one getting in and out of that room?

If the other two passageways looped around- wich would, admittedly, be explained by the idea that they were created naturally, rather than on purpose by human hands- then wasn't this the only way in and out of this room?

Did the taller man just ... not ever come in and out of there?

And if that was true, then didn't that mean that this part of the cave was only a simple off-room, and that the main part of the cave was somewhere else?

How did someone even end up with a design like this? Especially if they hadn't been intending it on purpose

Was this really just a natural creation? Or had the dragon-savers somehow created this themselves....?

It was ... it was pretty absurd to think that they had, but what other explanation was there?

Finally making his way to the end of the passage, he raised his self-made torch up higher in the air and peered out to see what was waiting for him

And what he found.....

What he found was worse than he ever could have imagined

He was standing at the edge of a cliff, of sorts, and below him was a deep, deep pit... filled from bottom to top with bones

Some, he could tell, were from dragons, but others, he noted, were definitely, distinctly, _human_

He could feel his heart starting to sink down into the pit of his stomach, but before he could do anything, there was a sharp prick at the back of his neck, and he suddenly felt himself wobbling, his vision was starting to blur again, his head going foggy, and he could feel himself begin to fall, but could do nothing to stop it

The last thing he saw as his eyes closed, was the pile of bones below him, getting closer and closer, as he fell towards them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The scar on Atem's eye is inspired by Timeaus, though it obviously isn't _quite_ like his, next chapter will introduce more charectors, and eventually, we'll learn more about Atem's scar, and how it relates to the other dragon riders


	3. Let The Human In

"I know why you're here," the man said with a deep, frustrated sigh, staring at the woman across from him with an absolutely bored expression

"You're one of Joey's little freinds, you can tell the other two dumbasses that my mind is made up, Raptor is already set to go skin the thing in an hour, we're not trading it for my son's stupid mistake,"

"Actually, Mr. Wheeler, I'm not here because of Joey at all,"

That actually seemed to take the man by surprise, eyebrows raising slowly as he continued to stare at the brunette

"Alright then, surprise me, what're you here for, Gardner?"

"W-Well... actually, I'm here about Serenity,"

"Serenity huh? And what about her?"

"I- .... I'm here to ask for her hand in marriage,"

He was silent for a long moment, still staring, but finally leaning back in his seat, clearly more relaxed now

"I didn't know you swung that way Gardner,"

"O-Oh, yeah, big.. big swinger! That's me, swinging.... swinging over there and... over here and ... yep, I'm ... swinging,"

He still seemed entirely unimpressed

".... Uh-huh, well I hate to burst your bubble, but seeing as Joey is no longer going to be around, I'm afraid Serenity is my only hope for heirs, she can't very well marry a woman _and_ carry on the family legacy,"

"But what if she could?"

"No, no no, I want ACTUAL grandchildren, my flesh and blood, not some ... scraggly orphans that you house and feed and just so happen to call your own,"

"That isn't what I mean at all," the brunette said quickly

"Serenity and I have... talked about this very issue, and actually, Duke and Tristan have been kind enough to make us a ... sort of deal,"

"What kind of deal?"

"Well.... they're a couple too, and they also want kids, so we figured.... one of us will just.. um.... _socialize_ ... with one of them and the children that come of it... Serenity and I will keep some of them and then Duke and Tristan will get the others, plus since we're both women there's no rule about who takes who's name and I would be more than willing to take the name 'Wheeler',"

"That so? Well then Miss Gardner, it seems you and I might just have something to talk about after all," he concluded, reaching onto the table in front of him and picking up the cup of tea that his guest had prepared for him

"Tell me, out of sheer curiosity, wich dumbass is going to be responsible for siring my grandchildren? I'm just wondering," he asked, taking a long drink of the tea, easily downing half the cup in one go

"Oh I... I really don't know, that's more her decision than it is mine, I guess... wichever one she prefers?"

He nodded slowly, setting his cup down again and feeling a sudden wave of drowsiness come over him, blinking slowly, trying to keep himself awake, but it was no use, in only moments, he was starting to fall asleep, completely against his will

"Mm... if it were my choice..." he muttered, yawning loudly, and that was about all he managed to get get, his eyes falling closed and a second later, his body flopping over and falling onto the floor

Hurriedly, his guest sprang to her feet, rushing to the doorway and poking her head out

"It worked, it worked!" she hissed with releif, waving the other two towards her

"See Tea`? I told you it would," Duke smirked arrogantly as he stepped hurriedly into the house

"Yes yes you are the mighty and powerfull Poison Master now hurry up and help me get his body out of here, before someone sees us!"

True, Tristan was playing look-out, but one could still never be too carefull, especially when hiding a body was of concern

Particularly one that was still _alive_

 

~+~

 

"What the hell was all o' that!?"

"Calm down-"

"I am NOT gonna calm down you fuckin' gremlin!" Joey shreiked

The man- boy?- was short, probably around the same height as the other particularly short- though, albeit, considerably less mature- dragon rider

He was wearing similar armor too, and had long black hair that was braided neatly, now swaying across his upper back with each motion

"Calm down, or my brother will hear you, you know, the guy with the silver armor and the scowl that never vanishes? You don't really want to be on his bad list do you? More than you already are, I mean,"

"Why not? I clearly ain't goin' home anytime, soon,"

The stranger pursed his lips, apparently at a loss of what to say, if even anything at all

"You still don't want to be on his bad side any worse than you already are,"

"Then just tell me what's goin' on, got it? Tell me... what's with all those bones? Why is this cave so hard to find anyway? Or atleast to get out of?"

"Because this is a dragon cave, it needs to stay hidden so that people like _you_ don't find it and murder all of the dragons," he huffed back

And ok, fair point

"Even gettin' out though?"

"Used to, before us, the only humans who came here were here to hurt dragons, they wouldn't want them to get out and tell all of their hunter freinds where to find the secret resting place, I think that's what it is, a protective barrier, to protect dragons, that's all,"

"Then what about the bones, huh!? I saw dragon AN' human bones down there, and Gods know how many o' 'em!! How d'ya' explain THAT!?"

"Well for one thing, we didn't always have possession of this place, not even temporarily, so alot of things simply have nothing to do with us,"

" _And_? I know that ain't all there is to it,"

The smaller man sighed, rubbing his eyes in what Joey assumed to be exhaustion, and closing them for a moment of hopefull peace

"And... what you saw was a _graveyard_ , a literal _graveyard_ , dragons are alot like humans, they burry and respect their dead, that's why that room exists, so that dragons who die can still be 'burried' and be with their dragon kin when they pass over,"

"What about the humans? I KNOW I saw human skeletons down there!"

"You probably did, you don't really think we were the first dragon-riders ever do you? It would be too hard to lug a dragon all the way through a human funeral, especially trying to get them back from the negative space your head is in at this very moment, the dragons appreciated their riders as much as we appreciate them, no one wants to be separated from the ones they care about, not even in death,"

Joey wasn't sure if he was going to believe that or not, part of him didn't even _want_ to believe that

But... he couldn't help it

The explanation actually sounded reasonable, and as much as he wanted to keep blaming dragons for everything, keep turning them into the bad guys, he knew that he couldn't

It was becoming more and more clear as time went by that dragons weren't the ruthless, murdering beasts he had always been taught that they were, and he didn't know what to do with that

Was his entire village mistaken this entire time? Had they all been committing murder in cold blood?

No.... no he couldn't believe that, he couldn't!!

"There are so many though..."

"Well there are alot of dragons out there, especially in this area, just because they're declining doesn't mean they don't still have alot of numbers, and besides, this _is_ the only funeral sight we're aware of, and it's been here for quite a wile,"

He swallowed tightly, giving a little nod as he looked down at his hands

He was still mulling over the idea that he was wrong- that his family, his entire people- were all wrong over all this time... but it was hard to make sense of

Hard to accept

Why was he so caught up on this anyway though?

In a few hours he would be dead, and none of it would matter anymore

He heard footsteps around the corner and glanced up, his stomach sinking slightly at the sight of the tallest of the dragon riders making his way around the corner

"You," he said immediately, tossing a glare towards Joey

"Get ready, we're leaving,"

... Yep, just as he thought

Dead man walking, no need to go changing his beleifs now....

 

~+~

 

"Yeah but wich one of us did you say was going to be the father?"

"For the LAST. TIME. Neither of you!!" Tea` huffed in irritation, nearly stomping towards the large shed in front of her

"I said that it was Serenity's choice and that was that,"

And before either of the men could say anything further, she yanked the shed door open, pressing a finger to her lip in a "shush"ing motion as she crept inside, Tristan and Duke following behind her

Surely enough, there, in the corner, was exactly what they were looking for- the dragon

It was even bigger like this, honestly, with such little distance between them

The creature was obviously heavily sedated, and for the longest moment, none of them knew what to do, none of them knew where to start...

Maybe they should have thought this through...

"The first thing we need to do is muzzle this thing," Duke said decisively, grabbing a muzzle from off the wall and swallowing tightly as he approached the dragon

The creature glanced up at him, blue eyes dull and foggy, clearly in distress yet... equally as clear unable to defend it's self....

It was actually kind of... sad, heart-breaking even, seeing the beast like this

"What are you waiting for?" Tristan hissed, noticing his boyfreind's sudden, uncharacteristic hesitation with the muzzle

Duke shook his head, blinking the thoughts away as he started to fasten the muzzle around the animal's mouth

"Nothing," he muttered under his breath

"Nothing at all,"

 

~+~

 

The ride was absolute misery

Joey suddenly found himself relieved that he had been unconscious for his first dragon ride, as the second had certainly been no picnic

He felt utterly ill as he dismounted from his place on the dragon's back- or, rather, he supposed, as he was dragged off forcefully by Atem

The bag was tugged off of his head, and Joey huffed in irritation, flopping down onto the ground immediately and clutching his aching, spinning head

Gods that was a terrible experience, how did these people stand it?

Was it _that_ different just from not having a bag on their heads...?

He didn't know, he didn't care, it was just... sick

Sick of it all

"It's almost sundown," Seto noted as he dismounted his own dragon, taking a hesitant step away from the edge of the cliff, as if that would somehow signal the villagers to come out and release his dragon

Joey hated to be the bearer of bad news, but he was pretty sure that they weren't getting that dragon back no matter what they did

He knew his father, and he knew how his father felt about dragons, and how he felt about Joey, and based on those things, he knew that his father would never approve of trading the dragon to save his life

He was as good as dead, it was time to make peace with that

And then, as if a miracle had struck, he heard a rustling in the bushes

Lifting his head, he watched in total shock as the dragon emerged, flanked on both sides by Tristan and Duke, with Tea` following close behind

"Tristan!!! Tea`!! Duke! You guys... you're really here!!"

Joey's excitement, however, was not shared by the dragon riders at his sides, especially not Seto

"Where's the old man? He's the one I made the deal with last night,"

"He sent us in his place," Tristan replied casually

That was... weird, why would his father do that?

Joey wondered, but he tried not to question it

"I see, well, release my dragon to me, then I'll give you your human,"

Tristan nodded, reaching down to start undoing the chains wrapped and cuffed around the dragon's ankles and wings

Lock by lock, the beast slowly came free, from her feet to her chest to her wings, before finally the muzzle was released, and the dragon was able to happily rush towards Seto

"Kalila!" he breathed in releif, immediately wrapping his arms around her, keeping her held close as Atem gave a small nod, walking behind Joey as he began to head towards the other humans, Tea` racing towards him immediately

However, before they could meet-

"I knew it!" came a loud, angry voice from the bushes

A voice that Joey very clearly recognized

"I warned you... I warned you not to release that dragon!!"

Ofcourse.... Joey shouldn't be surprised by this turn of events

And really, he wasn't, deep in his soul, he wasn't surprised

But that didn't stop him from being hurt

"You're going to pay for this... all of you..!!"

Then, in a flash of a moment, right as his father was emerging from the bushes, Joey watched as Atem drew his sword and suddenly grabbed Tea` by the arm, the blade pressed to her neck

"Move an inch and she dies," he snarled

The older man, who had just emerged from the forest, grit his teeth, but knew if he reached for a weapon, the dragon rider would make good on his promise

"I don't know what sort of game you're playing, but these three came to get the dragon _back_ from us after she had managed to escape on her own, they're worthless to us!" Atem shouted, blatantly lying.... but well enough to deceive the older man, it appeared

"You have your dragon... now let them go," he sneered in anger

Atem glanced over his shoulder, waiting for a fake signal from Seto, before nodding, slowly pulling the sword away and "releasing" her, allowing her to sprint back to the boys and the older man

"Fine, but we're keeping the blonde, you refused to come through on your promise, now we'll refuse to come through on our's," Atem said immediately, coldly, spinning around in a flash and pointing his sword at Joey's back, tapping gently to force him to walk forward

"You won't get away with this.... we WILL be back for you... we WILL avenge him!"

More like avenge the dragon he didn't get to kill.... but Joey wasn't going to say that, instead he merely let Atem put the bag over his head again and drag him onto the back of the dragon

He went easily this time, without a fight, letting the dragon rider man-handle and position him however he wanted

His suspicions were confirmed, as they flew away, presumably back to the cave

His father didn't care about him enough to make the deal, to let go of one stupid dragon, as far as he was concerned, Joey was already dead....

And if that were the case, then what why should he care about dying?

If that were the case, if he had no family, no home, no village to go back to... then wasn't he as good as dead anyway?


	4. Aftermath

_"Are you sure about this?"_

_Even in the dark, he was sure that he could somehow see his partners smiling_

_"We're sure," they promised in unison_

_Seto's voice was lower, huskier, Atem's was higher, amused, barely holding back a giggle_

_Seto was trying to seduce him, Atem found the idea of being uncertain utterly **hilarious**_

_Atleast, that's how Yugi was reading their tones_

_One of them leaned up, his hand soft- **Atem** \- and gently cupped Yugi's face, his lips were warm and tasted sweet as they landed on his partner's lips, his fingernails playing with the ends of Yugi's hair, up against the nape of his neck_

_Seto's lips were cooler, his kisses smaller as they pressed up against Yugi's pale shoulder, his larger, firmer hands landing steadily on the smaller man's hips_

_It was all so slow, so sensual and methodical, and yet in moments it grew nothing short of overwelming and he lost himself in the moment and the affection and the promises of a new life and a new relationship and a new way of living that were suddenly washing over him like a waterfall_

_It was everything and anything and he was never going to be released from it, he was sure_

_He never wanted to be_

 

~+~

 

"Where's Seto?"

Surprised to hear his partner's voice, Atem shifted a little, looking over his shoulder at his lover and forcing a smile

"He left to check on Mokuba, you know how unnerved he is by having strangers here,"

"He isn't the only one," Yugi muttered back, rolling over to lay flat on his back and stare up at the cave ceiling

"Goodness aibou, and here I thought you were freindlier than that," Atem teased, moving to lay on his other side, now able to stare at his partner's pale face, even in the darkness of the cave

There were little fireflies that occasionally flittered into the cave, crawling along the ceiling, that provided him with just a bit of light, just the tiniest fraction, just enough to see atleast the outline of his lover's pale face

"It isn't about freindliness," Yugi corrected

"I just.... I feel _guilty_.... we took this man from his home, from his family, and now he can never go back, we ruined his life, how can you not feel guilty over that?"

"You assume that I don't?" Atem frowned, eyebrows slightly raised

"No, I didn't mean-"

"I feel guilty, the circumstances were terrible, the way this situation turned out was horrible, but what choices did we have if we wanted to save Kalila? They were going to kill her Yugi, skin her alive, like a trophy.... if it comes to the life of a human or that of a dragon, you know what I'm going to choose,"

"I know, I know, I'm not saying that there was another way, I just....."

"You just feel so much... you _love_ so much, you are so compassionate, my darling partner, I admire you for that,"

"Really? I think Seto kind of hates me for it,"

Yugi didn't even have to be looking at Atem to know that he had bolted straight-up in bed, he could hear the blankets rustling

"Do you know that man _at all_? He could never hate you for anything!"

"Glad one of us is confident," Yugi mused with a quiet yawn

"You just haven't been here long enough to realize that yet," Atem shrugged easily

"I've been here for two years Atem, one of wich I've spent in this relationship with you two," he pointed out

"Yes but I've been with Seto for far longer, trust me, it is only now that I'm truly beginning to understand the depths of his love, it's easy to mistake when you haven't been with him for long, but .... once he loves someone, he will never stop loving them for anything in the world, especially something as magnificent as being kind and compassionate," he noted, snorting at the end of his speech and leaning closer to wrap his arms around Yugi's shoulders, hugging him close and peppering kisses gently along the back of his partner's neck, down his shoulders, against his back...

"Even if that kindness and compassion becomes our undoing?" Yugi questioned softly, tilting his head back and sighing softly, inviting more of those soft, warm kisses against his neck

"Even if," Atem promised with a small smirk, nipping his ear playfully

"But sweetheart, I don't believe it will be, we will not have an undoing, we will be eternal, the four of us, what we have here,"

"The five of us now, with the addition of Joey," Yugi noted, finally rolling onto his side so that he could face his partner as Atem carded his fingers through his hair, moving to lay down again and wrap his arms around Yugi

"Perhaps," he replied vaguely, gently but firmly tugging Yugi closer, his hands massaging slowly down his back as he started layering more kisses against his lover's neck

"Mm.... you aren't going to let me finish this conversation, are you?" he asked with a quiet sigh

"Correct," Atem smirked playfully, gently nipping Yugi's shoulder

The smaller man sighed, closing his eyes peacefully as he locked his arms around Atem's neck

"Ok...." he concluded softly

"I think I can live with that,"

 

~+~

 

"You're sure you're alright?"

"Seto, I'm not a baby, I wasn't even on this mission," Mokuba huffed in irritation, taking a sip of his tea

"I didn't say that you were, I just meant-"

"You don't have to worry so much ya' know, I _am_ an adult now," the younger brother noted, his expression playfull, but with an undertone of seriousness to it as well

"Barely," Seto corrected with a huff, staring down into his cup for a breif moment before turning his attention to the sleeping dragons behind them

Since getting Kalila back, she and her sisters had been piled all over eachother, and Seto himself was reluctant to leave them

He had tried to go to bed earlier with Yugi and Atem, but it hadn't really worked out, so he had gotten back up after the two of them fell asleep and decided to check on Mokuba instead

Was it a coincidence that they just so happened to be having this little night meeting in the same place that the triplets were sleeping? Probably not

"Ya' know, you were all jumpy like this when Yugi came to join us too," Mokuba noted as he took another sip of his tea, stretching out and turning his attention to the lightly crackling fire next to them

"Oh please Mokuba, you can't be comparing Yugi to the bumbling buffoon we got stuck with this time," Seto huffed in annoyance

"Yugi was never this stupid, nor was he ever a hostage, or- most importantly- a _dragon hunter_ , Yugi was the product of unfortunate circumstances, this idiot carved out his own fate,"

"All I'm saying is that we had a very similar conversation a couple of years ago when Atem brought Yugi home and now look at you three,"

"Different circumstances, different people, and you can't really be suggesting that I would ever want a _third_ romantic partner, two is plenty, believe me,"

"I never said _you_ would fall in love with him, but you _have_ hogged all of the hot guys that have come our way, I'm just saying, I'm an adult now, maybe-"

"Mokuba," Seto snapped immediately

"Don't even _think_ about finishing that sentence,"

This just made his younger brother laugh, grinning playfully from ear to ear and leaning back against the chair

"What's upsetting you so badly huh? The idea of me in a relationship, or the idea of me in a relationship with _him_?"

"Both," Seto spat bitterly, earning a snicker of amusement from his brother

_Great_

"Oh come on Seto, I'm just playing, lighten up a little, we got Kalila back didn't we? So today was a good day,"

"Sure, today was a great day, until you start counting for the unwanted guest we have to put up with now, atleast until we find a way to get rid of him, though Yugi probably won't be too happy with that..."

"We could always find another village to take him to," Mokuba suggested, causing his brother to stop drinking his tea, mid-sip, and stare at him in surprise

"... Go on,"

"Well, think about how many villages we 'save' from dragon-related destruction that keep saying they owe us, maybe instead of taking supplies from one of them we could just get them to adopt the blonde guy as 'payment'? Think about it, that would solve multiple problems, he'd be out of our hair and wouldn't be dragon-hunting anymore but without doing any bodily harm and thus pissing off Yugi,"

Seto was quiet for a moment, staring at his brother in awe, before slowly setting his cup back down

"Mokuba....... have I ever told you that you're a little genius?"

"A few times, but I always like hearing it," he winked back playfully

Seto found himself smirking, suddenly feeling immensely better than he had and leaning back, the stress and tension draining out of him in releif

Good....

Maybe, just maybe, he'd actually be able to get some sleep tonight after all

 

~+~

 

The momentary truce that he had built with the crazy cave dwellers was a temporary one, Joey knew

Sure the dark-skinned, crazy-haired one- Atem?- had saved his life when confronted with his father, but he was sure that the crazy dragon guy had had his own ulterior motives for that, it most certainly hadn't just been to save Joey's life for the sake of saving his life, the blonde was sure of that much

He didn't know how long this little peace circle would last between the five of them, or what they were planning to do with him when it finally ended- though, his guesses were all considerably grim

He figured that the safest option was going to be just .... leaving

The only way to insure his safety was going to be to find his way out of this place before they decided he would be better used as a pelt than a living creature- how's _that_ for irony?

Sure the last time he had decided to go exploring he had ended up finding a fucking _graveyard_ , but he couldn't let that detour him, otherwise he'd never get out of here, of that, he was absolutely _certain_

So, once he was sure everyone else was asleep, and certain of his plan, he snuck out of the bundle of blankets and bedding they had directed him towards earlier that evening and started fumbling around in the dark

Perhaps not his brightest idea, but he didn't have many others

The light of the fireflies was just enough for him to see his hand in front of his face- albeit barely- so as long as he felt his way around along the walls, he couldn't get into _too_ much trouble, right?

Atleast, that was what he had assumed, before his hand found it's way onto something considerably scalier and fleshier than a cave wall....

 

~+~

 

"You couldn't sleep either, huh?"

Serenity bit her lip, rubbing her arm anxiously as she stared at the woman who had stepped up beside her

"How can I? I'm too worried about my brother...."

"I'm sure Joey is fine, for now, he's pretty resilient,"'

"But how long will he stay that way!? He was kidnapped- not once but _twice_ , and by... crazy people who ... worship _dragons_ , I... I don't know how long they'll let him live," she protested, her voice falling increasingly more quiet the more she spoke, the more overcome by emotion she became

Tea` frowned sympathetically, stepping closer and gently placing a and on her freind's shoulder, giving it a small squeeze

"I know.... we're worried too, you know, Tristan, Duke, and I... we're worried too, wich is exactly why we've decided to launch a rescue mission,"

This caused the younger woman to look up at her freind in surprise, her face clearly depicting the shock she was feeling

"A... a rescue mission?"

"Yeah, we can't pull it off right away, I know, but... we've already started plotting,"

This made Serenity's face harden, turning far more serious and determined as she reached out and took Tea's hand

"Whatever it is.... count me in,"


	5. Judge, Jury, Executioner

"We can't keep doing this,"

"So you've said, multiple times in fact,"

"And I'm serious Yugi! He's going to run out of scales eventually, and sooner rather than later by the looks of things, we need to start conserving the medicine so we can use it when it's most important,"

"You know better than anyone that if you let it go too far, Atem, your vision will be lost for good, we can't do it that way, even if we were willing to," Yugi replied strictly, leaning against the wall behind him as Atem pressed the cloth over his bad eye, glancing beside him at the small bottle of medicine with his good eye and heaving a sigh of frustration

"Don't worry, we're going to handle this soon, now that we don't need to use the human as a trading stone anymore, we can use him to test new medication on," Seto noted casually, dipping another bottle into the lagoon beside him to fill it with water

"I told you before Seto, I am not going to let you blind an innocent person just for experiments that may or may not work!"

"And _I_ told _you_ before that I don't care what you say, I'm not going to let you lose your eye, this is the best solution I can think of-"

"Well it's a _bad_ one! Besides the fact that it's entirely unethical to do this, how much do you expect to test on him before you end up killing him!? You have no idea how to begin making an artificial solution, you're just going to go in head first with no plan in mind and start testing things? That's a TERRIBLE plan!"

"Atem is right Seto, you can't go into this without a plan, you'll kill him in two tries and then where will we be?" Yugi frowned in agreement

Atem wrinkled his nose, a look of disgust and surprise on his face as he turned to look up at his other partner

"Yugi.... surely you cannot be suggesting we follow through on this experimentation plan.... you, of all people?"

Yugi opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Seto rather quickly

"Ofcourse he is, you should know by now that to him, you're the most important thing, you're the most important _person_ , really Atem, I'm _ashamed_ of you for forgetting what happened in the Red Valley, I think Yugi proved to you then and there just how far he was willing to go for you,"

The red-eyed man bit his tongue, forcing back a wince

He hated thinking of that damn valley....

"That was different, that was life or death, it was... it was a momentary decision, but this? This is a _plan_ to _blind_ someone and experiment on them with _gods know what_ for the fruitless effort of saving my eye! It's an entirely different scenario!"

"Is it really?"

"YES! Just how far do you plan on taking this insanity anyway!?"

"To the very brink, I'll take it to the end if I have to,"

"Seto!! You _can't_ do that!" Atem snapped, sitting up right quickly, one hand holding the cloth over his eye to keep it in place

"I'm with Atem on this one, that's too far," Yugi insisted with a frown

"Then what would _your_ ideal limit be?"

Yugi sat back a little, picking at the ends of his leather gloves aimlessly, clearly giving the question a fair amount of thought before finally answering

"No permanent damage,"

Seto only scoffed, rolling his eyes in annoyance

"Then how do you plan on allowing me to conduct permanent experiments at all?"

"I... I don't know! I'm not the scientist here,"

"I think we should all be in agreement before we take any course of action," Atem piped up

"Well that's obviously not going to happen, I want to go all the way, you don't want to do anything at all, and Yugi wants something in the middle, we aren't going to agree..... but we _can_ take a vote, there is one more member of this family after all,"

"We aren't including Mokuba in this, he'll just agree with you!" Atem huffed

"Do you really think my younger brother is so stupid and meek that he can't even form his own opinion?" Seto asked with a smirk, eyebrows raised

"I believe the word you're searching for is 'biased'," Atem grumbled back

"Look, as much as I hate to say it... Seto has a point, Mokuba is part of this family too, we should atleast hear out what he has to say before we do anything else," Yugi insisted, standing up slowly and brushing himself off

"I'll get him, Joey clearly isn't going anywhere any time soon, we can afford to let him off of guard duty for a wile,"

"Funny, we thought the same thing last night," Seto grumbled back

"Yes, but last night he wasn't tied up,"

The blue-eyed man gave a small, considerate tilt of his head

What could he say?

Yugi had a point

 

~+~

 

"Can ya' atleast get me some water or somethin'!?"

The long-haired boy across from Joey wasn't paying any attention to him at all, evidently

He was apparently reading over some sort of large, leather-bound book, and wouldn't even look at the blonde

_Great_

"Sorry, can't move until somebody else comes to take my place,"

Joey rolled his eyes, huffing in annoyance and leaning back against the wall

His stupid decision last night to make an escape had been met with .... consequences.....

Apparently the "wall" he had been using to feel around in the cave wasn't a wall at all, it was a fucking dragon

An _enormous_ dragon at that, easily twice or maybe even three times the size of the triplet dragons that had started this entire mess

Massive and red with two mouths, he hadn't realized at first just how huge it was, not until the thing started to move and eventually coiled all the way around, it's long body had disappeared down one of the many tunnels in the cave, making it impossible for Joey to see exactly how big it was

Ofcourse all of the screaming and fuss that had been caused by this little mistake drew the attention of the crazy people who had kidnapped him and Joey had been treated to the sight of the tallest one dressed in nothing but a hastily put on robe, the shortest one shirtless and with his hands constantly behind his back- did he not want Joey to see his hands, he wondered? Or was he just hiding something?- and the middle one almost completely undressed, with nothing but a short skirt to cover himself, all three disheveled and irritable, the only one put together was the youngest with the black hair

Joey had a pretty good feeling what the other three had been up to at the time and frankly, just thinking about that should have been punishment enough for his escape attempt, but no, apparently they felt the need to tie him up too

(As a sidenote, Joey probably _could_ learn their names if he put any effort into it, but he was purposely letting himself forget as some sort of sign of protest)

The one in the skirt had calmed the dragon, and Joey assumed his relationship with it was similar to what the tall man had with the triplets

He sighed, flopping down onto his side aimlessly

He wondered what they planned on doing with him now that he was no longer of any use to them

Would they ever let him go?

Would they keep him here like a pet?

Or... were they planning something more... sinister?

Were they planning to kill him? Torture him? Feed him to the dragons? Sacrifice him to some sort of god?

Suddenly, he didn't even want the answer anymore....

 

~+~

 

"Ok, you're the tie-breaker, what'll it be?"

Blinking slowly, Serenity glanced between the three of them

She knew what her decision was, but she was a little... reluctant... to say it

She didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings after all, but it was clear to her what choice was the right choice

And for the betterment of her brother.....

"Sorry guys, but I'm voting on Tea`'s plan,"

"Thank the Goddess," Tea` sighed, much to the annoyance of the men in front of her

"Alright, if we're going to rescue Joey, we have to be quick, but carefull, we don't know what those people have planned for him, so we're to split into teams, Tristan and Duke, you two find the dragon that we're going to use as bait, Serenity and I will find a witch to place the tracking spell, we meet back at the hill at sunset, weather we have what we need or not, deal?"

Duke nodded his agreement, but Tristan seemed considerably less enthused

Tea`'s plan to lure the dragon-riders out by putting a dragon in harm's way, then using a witch to place a tracking spell on them when they went back to whatever ... _dwelling_... they had, in order to find their freind, was admittedly a good plan

But there were so many ways that this thing could simply take too much time, and he worried that Joey didn't have that much time

He had already been there over night, what would happen if they left him there for another day? Or two? Or three?

How long would Tea`'s plan take to execute anyway!?

"And what do we do once we find them? Charge in head-first right?" he asked, already knowing the answer, but just not wanting to admit to it

"No, we scope the area, then come up with a separate plan,"

"Joey probably doesn't have that long!" Tristan protested, leaping to his feet, anger and frustration clearly boiling in his veins

"It won't do him any good if we all charge in and get ourselves killed though," Tea` reasoned with a frown

"I know you're worried, and I don't blame you for that, but ... we have to be more carefull, these people are clearly professional, we can't just charge in head first or we'll get _all_ of us killed, we need to take our time, I promise, we _will_ get Joey back, but ... you have to trust me, alright?"

Head hung, still frustrated, he gave a small nod

He still didn't feel the best about this plan, but he knew the alternatives just wouldn't work

He had to trust her

He had to trust that he would get his best freind back alive

 

~+~

 

"So let me make sure I've got this right, Seto wants to use the human as an experiment to test potions on so he can help Atem's eye, and he's willing to take it as far as he has to to get a good result, Yugi wants to test on the human but be more humane about it, and Atem doesn't want to test on him at all, is that right?"

"Right," Seto confirmed with a nod

"Well... I hate to say this Big Bro, but Yugi's got a point, people are resources too, especially in this case, you can't go blowing all of your resources in one swoop, you have to be more carefull to make sure he lasts as long as possible, so you have to atleast _try_ not to cause permanent damage, atleast early on, or you'll only get in a few tests before he dies,"

The older brother frowned, eyebrows pinching in annoyance as Yugi breathed a sigh of releif

Atem, in the mean time, couldn't believe what he was hearing- was he the only one in this place who _didn't_ think experimenting on people was a good idea??

"I think, before you go testing anything, you've got to atleast have a stable plan in mind for what you're going to do,"

"And how would I get one of those without doing any tests? It's a paradox," Seto noted

"Well.... not necessarily, there _is_ one way to come up with a plan ahead of time, in fact, there's a way that may just save you the trouble of testing anything at all,"

"And what would that be?" Atem asked curiously, watching as Mokuba began to smirk, his eyes twinkling with delight

"We visit a witch,"


End file.
